X-otic Species Breeder Multi-Cache
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When parking for this cache, please pull over enough so as to not impede traffic on this narrow road. Don’t bring a car wider than a medium-sized SUV, else your big vehicle will block traffic. Room for two small cars. If you have a big pickup truck, or something similarly wide, please see our waypoint and notes for BIG CAR parking.
This three stage multi-cache is designed to show you around the Clara B. Winthrop Nature Preserve, a 9-acre nature sanctuary with a pretty woodland pond. This is a Manchester-Essex Conservation Trust (MECT) property. This small preserve is tucked into a residential area, so please NO NIGHT CACHING. The first two stages are micro-sized, the final stage is a large tupperware container. Coordinates and hints for stages 2 and 3 are hidden respectively in stages 1 and 2.
This geocache is partly a tribute to Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger’s art, and its influence on pop culture. If you enjoyed the creepiness of any of the “Alien” films, you have Giger to thank (please check out the photos in our second log entry). More about him is at the Related Web Page link above.
This geocache also calls attention to the problem of invasive species, and geocachers’ special position to do something about it. At least since the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell inspired "The Thing," science fiction has invoked terror with the concept of an invasive species to mankind (please see the movie poster gallery in our first log entry). But in reality, invasive species don’t usually “take over” with violence and gore, they often take over with slow and steady starvation by crowding habitat. Geocachers are in a unique position to learn more about these invasive species, spot them, and report them to environmental watch groups. Please check out these links for information about Asian Longhorned Beetles, Zebra Mussels, Mile-a-minute Vines and more:
US Department of Agriculture invasive species update (visit link)
The Massachusetts Introduced Pests Outreach Project (visit link)
A newsworthy example from the 2011 Japanese Tsunami (visit link)
2011 Tsunami species update Jan 2013, NBC Nightly News video segment (visit link)
March 2013, National Geographic about "crowdsourcing" and how it can help stem the spread of invasive species via social media: (visit link)
To help get the word around, we have as this cache’s theme swag: CACHE CONTAINERS! If you decide to take one of the containers you find here, please trade value appropriately and when you publish your cache, please refer to this cache, GC40JMK X-otic Species Breeder. Let us know and we’ll return the favor. Best to have word-of-mouth travel faster than invasive species! Normal swag and trackables are welcome here too. Geocaches this breeder cache has sprouted:
GC3FZXY 1/3 2/5 3/7 -.-. .- -.-. .... . by Bumble! (visit link)
The First-To-Find prize is rarer than our usual leave, a “starter set” of multiple Australian coins in a deluxe viewing box for the budding (or experienced) numismatist. I call these “critter coins” because they depict native Ozzie species. Australia is, unfortunately, a poster child for invasive species destruction. Alien species like the Cane Toad, European Rabbit, and Red Fox have been wreaking havoc there for years (visit link) . FTF congrats to the Geo-Knot team for first taming this invasive beast!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Uvag sbe Fgntr 1: Oruvaq gur oyhr oynmr
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
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